The present invention relates to a printer and a recording method allowing recording on one side of a recording medium and heating of a heat-sensitive adhesive layer on the other side thereof to develop adhesiveness.
Conventionally, there has been put into practical use a heat-sensitive adhesive sheet having a heat-sensitive adhesive layer adapted to develop adhesiveness by being heated. Such the heat-sensitive adhesive sheet is advantageous, for example, in that the sheet is easy to handle since the sheet exhibits no adhesiveness prior to heating and that the sheet involves no industrial waste since the sheet requires no separation sheet. To develop the adhesion force of the heat-sensitive adhesive layer of such the heat-sensitive adhesive sheet, heating is generally effected by using a thermal head used as the recording head of a thermal printer. When a heat-sensitive recordable layer is provided on the side of a heat-sensitive adhesive sheet which is opposite to the heat-sensitive adhesive layer, it is possible to perform recording and thermal activation by using a similar thermal head.
There has been developed a printer which records desired characters, numbers, images, etc. on the recordable layer of such the heat-sensitive adhesive sheet, cuts the sheet in predetermined lengths, and develops adhesiveness, in the heat-sensitive adhesive layer to produce adhesive labels that are to be affixed, for example, to goods to display prices, trade names, etc. Such the printer includes a recording portion for recording desired characters, numbers, symbols, images, etc. on a recordable layer, and a thermal activation portion for thermally activating a heat-sensitive adhesive layer to develop adhesiveness, and is further equipped with a conveying mechanism for conveying a heat-sensitive adhesive sheet and a cutter portion for cutting the heat-sensitive adhesive sheet in a predetermined length into label-like forms. The recording portion and the thermal activation portion are equipped with thermal heads of substantially the same construction, and there are arranged platen rollers respectively opposed to the thermal heads and adapted to support and convey the heat-sensitive adhesive sheet.
Further, a related art proposes a printer which can use, as the recording medium, both the heat-sensitive adhesive sheet as described above and a so-called ordinary label having a non-heat-sensitive adhesive layer covered with a separation sheet. As schematically shown in FIG. 11, in the printer, there are linearly arranged a recording portion 100, a cutter portion 101, a guide portion 102, and a thermal activation portion 103.
According to the related art, when effecting recording and thermal activation on a heat-sensitive adhesive seat 104, a recordable layer is heated by a recording thermal head 105 of the recording portion 100 to perform recording; then, a predetermined sag condition is attained in the guide portion 102, and the heat-sensitive adhesive sheet 104 is cut at a predetermined position by the cutter portion 101. In the thermal activation portion 103, the sag condition in the guide portion 102 is utilized, whereby the heat-sensitive adhesive layer is thermally activated by a heat activation thermal head 106 without stopping the advancement of the heat-sensitive adhesive sheet 104 before the heat-sensitive adhesive sheet is discharged through a discharge port 107.
In the printer, when only ordinary label recording is performed, the recordable layer is heated by the recording thermal head 105 of the recording portion 100 to perform recording, and then the ordinary label is cut at a predetermined position by the cutter portion 101 and passed through the guide portion 102 and the thermal activation portion 103 to be discharged through the discharge port 107. At this time, no partial difference in speed is generated in the ordinary label, and no sag as shown in FIG. 11 is generated in the guide portion 102, with the thermal activation thermal head 106 not being driven. In this way, the printer as disclosed in the related art can handle both the heat-sensitive adhesive sheet 104 and the ordinary sheet.
In the printer disclosed in the related art, the recording portion 100 and the thermal activation portion 103 are arranged linearly. Thus, the recording medium (ordinary label) passes the thermal activation portion 103, which is not to be used in the case of an ordinary label, so that a waste of time is involved from the supply of the recording medium to the discharge thereof through the discharge port 107.
Further, when the heat-sensitive adhesive sheet 104 is used as the recording medium, a portion (fragment) of the heat-sensitive adhesive layer having developed adhesiveness through thermal activation may adhere to and remain on the surface of the thermal activation thermal head 106; the fragment of the heat-sensitive layer thus adhering to and remaining on the surface of the thermal activation thermal head 106 may re-adhere to an ordinary label to be supplied afterwards as the recording medium. As a result, the separation sheet or the like of the ordinary label is endowed with unintended adhesiveness, and the handling of the label may become rather difficult.
Further, when an ordinary label is supplied as the recording medium, if there is some remaining heat in the thermal activation thermal head 106, or the thermal activation thermal head 106 is erroneously driven through an operation error, an error in the detection of the kind of recording medium, etc., unnecessary heat is applied to the separation sheet or the like of the ordinary label, which makes the handling of the sheet rather difficult and involves a danger of causing the user to suffer a burn.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a printer and a recording method allowing handling of both a recording medium both sides of which are to be heated and a recording medium only one side of which is to be heated, and making it possible, especially in the latter case, to prevent a waste of processing time and to avoid unintended imparting of adhesiveness or overheating.